Ahise
General information Ahise is your average synthetic conlang (which was designed to sound and look like Amerind, i.e. Quechua, Nahuatl). :3 Why coming up with a name is so difficult? Phonology I'm lazy to format the tables with . Consonants /h/ occurs as allophone of /χ/ and /x/ between back vowels. Labialized consonants are indicated by "w". Vowels Long vowels are indicated with a macron. There are 12 diphthongs, every vowel with /ɪ/ (i.e. /eɪ/, /oɪ/, etc); indicated with i after the vowel (ei, oi), /aʊ/ (au), /oʊ/ (ou), /eʊ/ (eu). Alphabet Phonotactics Consonant clusters include maximum 2 consonants of different places of articulation, ie two plosives can be in a row, but one requires to be e.g. velar and the second e.g. alveolar. Altering of sounds Nasals: Nasals become voiceless before voiceless consonants in complimentary distribution, qabamtei "we could do this a long time ago" is mainly pronounced /'qa.ba.m̥te/ Plosives: All plosives agree in voicing with their successor consonants. /ts/ is pronounced /dz/ before /a/. The rare consonant cluster "px" is sometimes pronounced as /p'/ Vowels: e is /e/ (close-mid) at the end of a word, otherwise /ɛ/ ei is /ei/ except at the end of a word, otherwise /e/ (same with ö, but rounded) i is /i/ only at the end of a word, otherwise /ɪ/ (same with ü, but rounded) o is /o/ at the end of a word, otherwise /ɔ/ Stress The stress always falls on the penultimate syllable with some exceptions. Tones Ahise is tonal in some dialects. The tones are the same in all tonal dialects and they are as follows: One-syllable words are pronounced with high tone. In 2 syllable words the stressed (usually penultimate) syllable is pronounced with high-falling tone, and the second syllable is pronounced with . In 3-syllable words the pattern is varying; if the 1st syllable is stressed (the stress is marked with an acute accent in tonal dialects) the following two syllables are falling to low tone, if the last syllable is stressed it's vice versa. If the stress is regular, the 1st syllable is pronounced with low-rising tone, the 2nd syllable with high tone, and the 3rd syllable is pronounced with high-falling tone. In 4+ syllable words the pattern is like low-mid-rising, mid-rising, high, and high-falling for every 4 syllables. Grammar Nouns (More to be done) The vowel declension is basically the same as consonant declension, with some minor differences. Words ending in u and o just replace the final u/o with w and take the consonant declension and words ending with i replace the final i with y (and take the consonant declension). The ablative case can also be used as a form of (lacking) abstract-essive (?), as in''' ihowe-kis itemiheke''' "in their dignity and rights" Both declensions take -me ending when counting, i.e. ö čēkme, qu čēkme, etc. Verbs Explained with the stem qaba-. Moods Personal endings If two same consonants occur in a row it's simply replaced by a single consonant, like *qabatte - qabate. If voiceless consonant and then its unvoiced counterpart (and vice versa) occur it's replaced by a long unvoiced consonant, like *qabadte - qabatte. Other constructions Hortative: Pronoun subjects: Passive mood is indicated by -ti at the end of the verb phrase. Reflexive is indicated with -ha at the end of the verb phrase. Copula In progress. Syntax Ahise is ergative-absolutive, which means the subject is in ergative and the object is in absolutive, for example "A dog bit a man" is translated as Hukasi sakašit čēk. It can use a form of passive voice, which involves the object in ergative and the agent in absolutive, e.g. "A man was bit by a dog" is translated as Čekaz sakašiti huka. (Overall, this all makes quite a mess :/) Vocabulary Example text Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. : Ze čēkme toch hoyike ihowekis emiheke taheste. Atzitem qaweke tarēhiste dadarökis ühekis tehaweme. Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. : Zēheme takis tarēhiste yahekine ze takisi pxakeyöke kitehiste deklaratziyatekis han hayöwā či hohis, pehi, xe, deče, yēt, teheyö politike ši uhe, kahas nakahi ši oyehehi, wayö, taheyö ši tī uhe. Kehawate hayöwā hoti tīkis politike, yurisdiktziye, meheditose ditokis hayatikiso kihis čēke, kohi, tahameses, tahetis, mehihatis, uhe suverenakotehikiso. See also *Vocabulary Category:Languages Category:August Challenge